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VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 



REINCARNATION 



THREE LECTURES BY 

swAmi abhedAnanda 

OF INDIA 



Published^ by the Vedanta Society 
New York 




V : - : 'i ■■:'- 





Copyright, ixm, by H. J. Van Raagen. 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 



THREE LECTURES 
BY 

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA 

REINCARNATION 

DELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPICES OP THE " 
VEDANTA SOCIETY, IN ASSEMBLY HALL, 
NEW YORK, 1898-1899 

t£r* t£r* Jr* 

Published by the Vedanta Socie^y^" \ ; r \ \ • n N. 

New York /\P'^ , r>E Qf ^^X 

<* * * [341:11 iut 221899 j 

FOR SALE BY \ fc ^ ^ 

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And Booksellers Generally ^-.w ' ^ ^ c OQr^'^ ** 



Price, 25 Cents 






'A'':\:\ 



Copyright, 1899 

by swami abhedananda 

New York 



CONTENTS 



I. — Reincarnation 

II. — Evolution and Reincarnation 

III. — Which is Scientific, Resurrection or 
Reincarnation 



e^* V* Jr* 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 



REINCARNATION 
I. 

The visible phenomena of the universe are bound 
by the universal law of cause and effect. The effect 
is visible or perceptible, while the cause is, invisible 
or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a 
tree is the effect of a certain invisible force called 
gravitation. Although the force cannot be perceived 
by the senses, its expression is visible. All percepti- 
ble phenomena are but the various expressions of dif- 
ferent forces which act as invisible agents upon the 
subtle and imperceptible forms of matter. These 
invisible agents or forces together with the imper- 
ceptible particles of matter make up the subtle states 
of the phenomenal universe. When a subtle force 
becomes objectified, it appears as a gross object. 
Therefore, we can say, that every gross form is an 
expression of some subtle force acting upon the sub- 
tle particles of matter. The minute particles of 



6 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

hydrogen and oxygen when combined by chemical 
force, appear in the gross form of water. Water 
can never be separated from hydrogen and oxygen, 
which are its subtle component parts. Its exist- 
ence depends upon that of its component parts, 
or in other words, upon its subtle form. If the 
subtle state changes, the gross manifestation will 
also change. The peculiarity in the gross form of a 
plant depends upon the peculiar nature of its subtle 
form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross 
forms in the animal kingdom depends upon the 
subtle forms which manifest variously in each of the 
intermediate stages between the microscopic unit of 
living matter and the highest man. Gross human 
body is closely related to its subtle body. Not only 
this, but every movement or change in the physical 
form is caused by the activity and change of the 
subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or 
changed a little, the gross body will also be affected 
similarly. The material body being the expression 
of the subtle body, its birth, growth, decay and death 
depend upon the changes of the subtle body. As 
long as the subtle body remains, it will continue to 
express itself in a corresponding gross form. 

Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a 
subtle body. It is nothing but a minute germ of a 
living substance. It contains the invisible particles 
of matter which are held together by vital force, and 
it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential 
state, just as a seed of a plant contains in it the life 



REIN C A RNA TION 7 

force and the power of growth. According to 
Vedanta, the subtle body consists of Antahkaranam, 
that is, the internal organ or the mind substance 
with its various modifications, the five instruments of 
perception : the powers of seeing, hearing, smelling, 
tasting and touching ; the five instruments of action 
such as the powers of seizing, moving, speaking and 
so forth, and the five Prdnas. Prdna is a Sanskrit 
word which means vital energy or the life sustaining 
power in us. Although Prdna is one, it takes five 
different names on account of the five different func- 
tions it performs. This word Prdna includes the five 
manifestations of the vital force: First, that power 
which moves the lungs and draws the atmospheric 
air from without into the system. This is also called 
Prdna. Secondly, that power which throws out of 
the system such things which are not wanted. It is 
called in Sanskrit Apdna. Thirdly, it takes the name 
of Samdna, as performing digestive functions and 
carrying the extract of food to every part of the 
body. It is called Uddna when it is the cause of 
bringing down food from the mouth through the 
alimentary canal to the stomach and also when it is 
the cause of the power of talking. The fifth power 
of Prdna is that which works in every part of the 
system from head to foot, through every canal, 
which keeps the shape of the body, preserves it from 
putrefaction, and gives health and life to every cell 
and organ. These are the various manifestations of 
the vital force or Prana. These subtle powers 



8 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

together with the non-composite elements of the 
gross body, and also with the potentialities of all 
the impressions, ideas and tendencies which each 
individual gathers in one life, make up his subtle 
body. As a resultant of all the different actions of 
mind and body which an individual does in his pres- 
ent life, will be the tendencies and desires in his 
future. Nothing will be lost. 

Every action of body or mind which we do, every 
thought which we think, becomes fine, and is stored 
up in the form of a Sanskdra or impression in our 
minds. It remains latent for some time, and then it 
rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces 
new desires. These desires are called in Vedanta, 
Vdsands. Vasanas or strong desires are the manu- 
facturers of new bodies. If Vasana or longing for 
worldly pleasures and objects remains in anybody, 
even after hundreds of births, that person will be 
born again. Nothing can prevent the course of strong 
desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner or later. 

Every voluntary or involuntary action of the body, 
sense or mind must correspond to the dormant im- 
pressions stored up in the subtle body. Although 
growth, the process of nourishment and all the 
changes of the gross physical body take place accord- 
ing to the necessarily acting causes, yet the whole 
series of actions, and consequently every individual 
act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, 
nay, the whole process in and through which the 
body exists, are nothing but the outward expressions 



REINCARNA TION 9 

of the latent impressions stored up in the subtle 
body. Upon these rests the perfect suitableness of 
the animal or human body, to the animal or human 
nature of one's impressions. The organs of the 
senses must therefore completely correspond to the 
principal desires which are the strongest and most 
ready to manifest. They are the visible expressions 
of these desires. If there be no hunger or desire to 
eat, teeth, throat and bowels will be of no use. If 
there be no desire for grasping and moving, hands 
and legs would be useless. Similarly it can be shown 
that the desire for seeing, hearing, etc., have pro- 
duced the eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to use 
my hand, and if I do not use it at all, within a few 
months it will wither away and die. In India there 
are some religious fanatics who hold up their arms 
and do not use them at all ; after a few months their 
arms wither and become stiff and dead. A person 
who lies on his back for six months loses the power 
of walking. There are many such instances which 
prove the injurious effects of the disuse of our limbs 
and organs. 

As the human form generally, corresponds to the 
human will generally, so the individual bodily struc- 
ture corresponds to the character, desires, will and 
thought of the individual. Therefore the outer 
nature is nothing but the expression of the inner 
nature. This inner nature of each individual is what 
re-incarnates or expresses itself successively in vari- 
ous forms, one after another. When a man dies the 



io VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

individual ego or Jiva (as it is called in Sanskrit), 
which means the germ of life or the living soul of 
man, is not destroyed, but it continues to exist in an 
invisible form. It remains like a permanent thread 
stringing together the separate lives by the law of 
cause and effect. The subtle body is like a water- 
globule which sprang in the beginningless past from 
the eternal ocean of reality; and it contains the 
reflection of the unchangeable light of Intelligence. 
As a water-globule remains sometime in an invisi- 
ble vapory state in a cloud, then in rain or snow or 
ice, and again as steam or in mud, but is never 
destroyed, so the subtle body sometimes remains 
unmanifested and sometimes expresses itself in gross 
forms of animal or human beings, according to the 
desires and tendencies that are ready to manifest. It 
may go to heaven, that is, to some other planet, or 
it may be born again on this earth. It depends on 
the nature and strength of one's life-long tendencies 
and bent of mind. This idea is clearly expressed in 
Vedanta. "The thought, will or desire which is 
extremely strong during lifetime, will become 
predominant at the time of death and will mould the 
inner nature of the dying person. The newly 
moulded inner nature will express in a new form." 
The thought, will or desire which moulds the inner 
nature has the power of selecting conditions or envir- 
onments which will help it in its way of manifesta- 
tion. This process is expressed by the evolutionists 
as the law of " natural selection." 



REINCARNA TION i 1 

We shall be better able to understand that process 
by studying how the seeds of different trees 
select from the common environments different 
materials, and absorb and assimilate different quan- 
tities of elements. Suppose two seeds, one of an 
oak and the other of a chestnut, are planted in a pot. 
The power of growth in both the seeds is of the same 
nature. The environments, earth, water, heat and 
so forth are the same. But still there is some peculi- 
arity in each of the seeds, which will absorb from the 
common environments different quantities of ele- 
ments and other properties which are fit to help the 
growth of the peculiar nature arid form of the fruit, 
flower, leaves of each tree. Suppose the chestnut 
is a horse-chestnut. If, under different conditions, 
the peculiar nature of the horse-chestnut changes 
into that of a sweet chestnut, then, along" with the 
changes in the seed, the whole nature of the tree, 
leaves, fruits will be changed. It will no more 
attract, absorb or assimilate those substances and 
qualities of the environments which it did when it 
was a horse-chestnut. Similarly, through the law of 
"natural selection' ' the newly moulded thought-body 
of the dying person will choose and attract such 
parts from the common environments as are helpful 
to its proper expression or manifestation. Parents 
are nothing but the principal parts of the environment 
of the re-incarnating individual. The newly moulded 
inner nature or subtle body of the individual will by 
the law of "natural selection" choose, unconsciously 



12 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

as it were, its suitable parents and will be born to 
them. As, for instance, if I have a strong desire 
to become an artist, and if, after a life-long struggle 
I do not succeed in being the greatest, after the death 
of the body, I will be born of such parents and with 
such environments as will help me to become the 
best artist. 

The whole process is expressed in Eastern philoso- 
phy by the doctrine of the Reincarnation of the indi- 
vidual soul. Although this doctrine is commonly re- 
jected in the West, it is unreservedly accepted by 
the vast majority of mankind of the present day, as 
it was in past centuries. The scientific explanation of 
this theory we find nowhere except in the writings 
of the Hindus, still we know that from very ancient 
times it was believed in by the philosophers, sages and 
prophets of different countries. The ancient civiliza- 
tion of Egypt was built upon the crude form of the 
doctrine of Reincarnation. Herodotus says: "The 
Egyptians propounded the theory that the human 
soul is imperishable, and that where the body of any 
one dies it enters into some other creature that may 
be ready to receive it." Pythagoras and his disciples 
spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras 
says: "All has soul; all is soul wandering in the 
organic world, and obeying eternal will or law." 

In Dryden's Ovid we read: — 

1 ' Death has no power the immortal soul to slay, 
That, when its present body turns to clay, 
Seeks a fresh home, and with unlessened might 
Inspires another frame with life and light." 



REINCARNATION 13 

It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy. Plato 
says : * * Soul is older than body. Souls are contin- 
ually born over again into this life." The idea of Re- 
incarnation was spread widely in Greece and Italy by 
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid. 
It was known to the Neo-Platonists, Plotinus and 
Proclus. Plotinus says: "The soul leaving the 
body becomes that power which it has most devel- 
oped. Let us fly then from here below and rise to 
the intellectual world, that we may not fall into a 
purely sensible life by allowing ourselves to follow 
sensible images, etc." It was the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the religion of the Persian Magi. Alexander 
the Great accepted this idea after coming in contact 
with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found 
that the Gauls had some belief regarding- the pre- 
existence of the human soul. The Druids of old 
Gaul believed that the souls of men transmigrate 
into those bodies whose habits and characters they 
most resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed 
with this idea. It was a favorite theme of the Arab 
philosophers and many Mahomedan Sufis. The 
Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity. 
Philo of Alexandria who was a contemporary of 
Christ, preached amongst the Hebrews the Platonic 
idea of the pre-existence and rebirth of human souls. 
Philo says: "The company of disembodied souls 
is distributed in various orders. The law of some of 
them is to enter mortal bodies, and after certain pre- 
scribed periods be again set free." John the Baptist 



i 4 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

was according to the Jews a second Elijah; Jesus 
was believed by many to be the re-appearance of 
some other prophet. (See Matt, xvi., 14, also 
xvii. , 12.) Solomon says in his book of wisdom i€ I 
was a child of good nature and a good soul came 
to me, or rather because I was good I came into an 
undefiled body." 

The Talmud and Kabala teach the same thing. 
In the Talmud it is said that Abel's soul passed into 
the body of Seth, and then into that of Moses. 
Christianity is not exempt from this idea. Origen 
and other church fathers believed in it. Origen 
says: "For God justly disposing of his creatures 
according to their desert, united the diversities of 
minds in one congruous world, that he might, as it 
were, adorn his mansion (in which ought to be not 
only vases of gold and silver, but of wood also and 
clay, and some to honor and some to dishonor) with 
these diverse vases, minds or souls. To these causes 
the world owes its diversity, while Divine Provi- 
dence disposes each according to his tendency, mind 
and disposition." He also says: "I think this is a 
question how it happens that the human mind is 
influenced now by the good, now by the evil. The 
causes of this I suspect to be more ancient than this 
corporeal birth." The idea of Reincarnation spread 
so fast amongst the Christians that Justinian was 
obliged to suppress it by passing a law in the Council 
of Constantinople in A. D. 538. The law was this: 
"Whoever shall support the mythical presentation 



RE INC A RNA TION 1 5 

of the pre-existence of the soul, and the conse- 
quently wonderful opinion of its return, let him be 
Anathema." The Gnostics and Manichseans propa- 
gated the tenets of Reincarnation amongst the 
mediaeval sects called Bogomiles, Paulicians, and so 
forth. Some of the followers of this so-called erron- 
eous belief were cruelly persecuted in 385, A. D. 

In the seventeenth century some of the Cambridge 
Platonists, as Dr. Henry More and others, ac- 
cepted the idea of rebirth. Most of the German 
philosophers of the middle ages and of recent days 
have advocated and upheld this doctrine. Many 
quotations can be given from the writings of great 
thinkers, as Kant, Scotus, Schelling, Fichte, Leibnitz, 
Schopenhaur, Giardano Bruno, Goethe, Lessing, 
Herder and a host of others. The great skeptic 
Hume says in his posthumous essay on "The Im- 
mortality of the Soul," "The metempsychosis is 
therefore the only system of this kind that philos- 
ophy can harken to." Scientists like Flammarion 
and Huxley have supported this doctrine of Reincar- 
nation. Professor Huxley says': "None but hasty 
thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent 
absurdity. Like the doctrine of evolution itself, 
that of transmigration has its roots in the world of 
reality." (' Evolution and Ethics', p. 61.) 

Some of the theological leaders have preached it. 
The eminent German theologian Dr. Julius Miiller 
supports this theory in his work on ' ' The Christian 
Doctrine of Sin." Prominent theologians such as 



16 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

Dr. Dorner, Ernesti, Rlickert, Edward Beecher, 
Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks, preached 
many a time touching the question of the pre-exis- 
tence and rebirth of the individual soul. Sweden- 
borg and Emerson maintained it. Emerson says in 
his essay on Experience, ' ' We wake and find our- 
selves on a stair. There are stairs below us which 
we seem to have ascended; there are stairs above 
us, many a one, which go upward and out of sight." 
Almost all of the poets, ancient or modern, profess 
it. William Wordsworth says in "Intimations of 
Immortality" — 

" The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 
Hath had elsewhere its setting, 
And cometh from afar." 

Tennyson writes in the "Two Voices." 

" Or, if through lower lives I came — 
Tho' all experience past became, 
Consolidate in mind and frame — 
I might forget my weaker lot; 
For is not our first year forgot ? 
The haunts of memory echo not." 

Walt Whitman says in " Leaves of Grass." 

' 4 As to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, 
No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before." 

Similar passages can be quoted from almost all 
the poets of different countries. Even amongst the 
aboriginal tribes of Africa, Asia, North and South 
America, traces of this belief in the rebirth of souls 
is to be found. Nearly three-fourths of the popula- 



REINCA RNA TION 1 7 

tion of Asia believe in the doctrine of Reincarnation 
and through it they find a satisfactory explanation 
of the problem of life. There is no religion which 
denies the continuity of the individual soul after 
death. 

Those who do not believe in Reincarnation, try 
to explain the world of inequalities and diversities 
either by asserting that the omnipotent will of God 
has made these inequalities or by the theory of hered- 
itary transmission . Neither of these theories, how- 
ever, is sufficient to explain the inequalities that we 
meet with in our everyday life. If omnipotent per- 
sonal God created this universe out of nothing, could 
he not make all things good and all beings happy ? 
If God creates each individual soul before its birth 
why does He make one happy and another un- 
happy ? Why is one man or woman born with good 
tendencies and another with evil ones ? Why is 
one man virtuous throughout his life and another 
bestial ? Why is one born intelligent and another 
idiotic ? If God out of His own will made all these 
inequalities, or, in other words, if God created one 
man to suffer and another to enjoy, then how partial 
and unjust must He be! He must be worse than" a 
tyrant. How can we worship Him, how call Him 
merciful and just ? 

Some people try to save God from this charge of 
partiality and injustice by saying that all good 
things of this universe are the work of God, and all 
evil things are the work of a demon or Satan. God 



18 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

created everything good, but it was Satan who 
brought evil into this world and made everything 
bad. Now let us see how far such a statement is 
logically correct. Good and evil are two relative 
terms ; the existence of one depends upon that of the 
other. Good cannot exist without evil, and evil can- 
not exist without being related to good. When God 
created what we call good, He must have created 
evil at the same time, otherwise He could not 
create good alone. If the creator of evil, call him 
by whatever name you like, had brought evil into 
this world, he must have created it simultaneously 
with God; otherwise it would have been impossible 
for God to create good, which can exist only as 
related to evil. As such they will have to admit that 
the Creators of good and evil sat together at the 
same time to create this world, which is a mixture of 
good and evil. Consequently, both of them are 
equally powerful, and limited by each other. 
Therefore neither of them is infinite in powers or 
omnipotent. So we cannot say that the Almighty 
God of the universe created good alone and not the 
evil. 

The argument which the supporters of the theory 
of hereditary transmission advance, does not explain 
satisfactorily the cause of the inequalities and 
diversities of this universe. Why is it that the 
children of the same parents show marked dissimi- 
larity to their parents and to each other? Why do 
twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess 



REINCA RNA TION 1 9 

opposite qualities, although they are born of the 
same parents at the same time and brought up under 
similar conditions and environments? How can 
heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has 
five children ; one is honest and good, another is an 
idiot, the third becomes a murderer, the fourth goes 
to church and is devotional and the fifth is a cripple 
and diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? 
They cannot be accidents. There is no such thing as 
an accident. Every event of the universe is bound 
by the law of cause and effect. There must be some 
cause of these inequalities. Who made one honest 
and good, and another an idiot, and so forth? 
Parents? That cannot be. They never dreamed that 
they would beget a murderer or a villain or an idiot. 
On the other hand, almost all parents wish their 
children to be the best and happiest. But in spite 
of their desires they get such children. Why ? 
What is the cause ? Does the theory of heredity 
explain it? No, not at all. In the first place, there is 
a great dispute amongst the advocates of the heredity 
theory whether or not one inherits the acquired 
characters of the parents. Dr. August Weismann 
and the followers of his school deny that the heredi- 
tary tendencies of the parents predominate in one, of 
the grandfather in another, those of the grandmother 
in the third, while the tendencies of the great- 
grandfather or of the great-great-grandmother in the 
fourth, and so on. But Weismann says that the 
acquired characters are never inherited. The indi- 



20 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

vidual inequalities are caused by the differences of 
germ-cells. He believes in the " continuity of the 
germ-plasm." We will be able to understand his 
theory better from the following quotations, which 
give his own words. He says, "I have called this 
substance ' germ-plasm,' and have assumed that it 
possesses a highly complex structure, conferring 
upon it the power of developing into a complex 
organism. " (Weismann on " Heredity," Vol. I., p. 
170.) Again he says: " There is, therefore, con- 
tinuity of the germ-plasm from one generation to 
another. One might represent the germ-plasm by 
the metaphor of a long, creeping root-stock from 
which plants arise at intervals, these latter repre- 
senting the individuals of successive generations. 
Hence it follows that the transmission of acquired 
characters is an impossibility, for if the germ -plasm 
is not formed anew in each individual, but is derived 
from that which preceded it, its structure, and above 
all, its molecular constitution, cannot depend upon 
the individual in which it happens to occur, but such 
an individual only forms, as it were, the nutritive 
soil at the expense of which germ-plasm grows, 
while the latter possessed its characteristic structure 
from the beginning, viz. : before the commencement 
of growth. But the tendencies of heredity, of 
which the germ-plasm is the bearer, depend upon 
this very molecular structure, and hence only those 
characters can be transmitted through successive 
generations which have been previously inherited, 



REINCARNATION 21 

viz. : those characters which were potentially con- 
tained in the structure of the germ-plasm. It also 
follows that those other characters which have been 
acquired by the influence of special external condi- 
tions, during the life-time of the parent, cannot be 
transmitted at all." (Vol. I., p. 273.) In conclusion, 
Weismann writes: "But at all events we have 
gained this much, that the only facts which appear 
to directly prove a transmission of acquired charac- 
ters have been refuted, and that the only firm 
foundation on which this hypothesis has been 
hitherto based, has been destroyed." (Vol. I., p. 
461.) 

Thus Dr. Weismann has subverted the old theory 
of heredity, and has pushed it so far that it has come 
almost to the door of the doctrine of Reincarnation. 
According to Weismann's theory, the character of 
each of those five children is not the result of a 
hereditary transmission, but a manifestation of 
11 those characters which were potentially contained 
in the structure of the germ-plasm." Secondly, if 
this be the case, the question arises, where did the 
potential characters or tendencies of the germ- 
plasm originally come from ? Weismann's answer 
is " from the common stock." But what and where 
that common stock is, Dr. Weismann does not tell 
us, so the solution is only half satisfactory. 
. Vedanta explains this difficulty by saying that each 
of these germ-plasms or bioplasms is but a rein- 
carnating subtle body, containing potentially all the 



22 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

experiences, characters, tendencies and desires which 
one had in one's previous life. At the time of 
death the individual soul contracts and remains in 
the form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, 
Vedanta teaches, that it is neither the will of God nor 
the fault of the parents that has formed the 
characters of those children, but each child is respon- 
sible for its tendencies, capacities, powers and 
character. It is its own " Karma" or past actions 
that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or 
sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body 
manifest in the character of an individual. The 
doctrine of Reincarnation alone can explain most 
satisfactorily and rationally many instances of 
uncommon powers and genius displayed in childhood. 
The theory of heredity has up to this time failed to 
give any good reason for them. Why is it that 
Pascal, when twelve years old, succeeded in dis- 
covering for himself the greater part of plane 
geometry. How could the shepherd Mangiamelo, 
when five years old, calculate like an arithmetical 
machine. Think of the child Zerah Colburn. When 
he was under eight years of age he could solve the 
most tremendous mathematical problems instantly 
and without using any figures. " In one instance 
he took the number 8 and raised it up progressively 
to the sixteenth power and instantly mentioned the 
result which contained 15 figures — 281, 474, 976, 710, 
656." Of course he was right in every figure. 
Asked the square root of numbers consisting of six 



REINCARNA TION 23 

figures, he would state the result instantly with 
perfect accuracy. He used to give the cube root of 
numbers in the hundreds of millions, the very 
moment when it was asked. Somebody asked him 
once how many minutes were there in 48 years, he 
answered, 25,288,800, and so on. 

Mozart, the great musician, wrote a sonata when he 
was four years old and an opera in his eighth year. 
Theresa Milanolla played the violin with such skill 
that many people thought that she must have played 
before her birth. There are many such instances of 
wonderful powers exhibited by artists and painters 
when they were quite young. Sankaracharya, the 
great commentator of the Vedanta philosophy, 
finished his commentary when he was twelve years 
old. How can such cases be explained by the theory 
of hereditary transmission . Joseph Hofmann showed 
wonderful genius and complete mastery of the piano 
when he was ten years old. When they were quite 
young, Homer, Plato, Shakespere, Beethoven, 
Raphael, showed extraordinary powers which could 
not be traced back to any members of their 
ancestral line. No other theory than the doctrine 
of Reincarnation can explain satisfactorily the causes 
which produce genius and prodigies. 

Another argument which the Vedantists advance 
in support of the theory of Reincarnation is that 
1 ' Nothing is destroyed in the universe. " Destruction 
in the sense of the annihilation of a thing is unknown 
to the Vedantic philosophers, just as it is unkown to 



24 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

the modern scientists. They say "non-existence 
can never become existence and existence can never 
become non-existence; " or, in other words, that 
which did not exist can never exist, and conversely 
that which exists in any form can never become 
non-existent. This is the law of nature. As such, 
the impressions or ideas which we now have, 
together with the powers which we possess, will not 
be destroyed but will remain with us in some form 
or other. Our bodies may change, but the powers, 
Karma, Sanskaras or impressions and the materials 
which manufactured our bodies must remain in us 
in an unmanifested form. They will never be 
destroyed. Again science tells us that that which 
remains in an unmanifested or potential state must 
at some time or other be manifested in a kinetic or 
actual form. Therefore we shall get other bodies, 
sooner or later. It is for this reason said in the 
" Bhagavad Gita" — " Birth must be followed by 
death and death must be followed by birth." Such 
a continuously recurring series of births and deaths 
each germ of life must go through. 

One objection that is often raised against the 
doctrine of Reincarnation is this : If we had previous 
births, why do not we remember them ? This ques- 
tion prevents many people from accepting this doc- 
trine. But they do not realize that even during our 
life-time we forget many things which we did in 
our infancy or childhood. I do not remember what 
I did when I was a baby, but shall I deny my exis- 



REINCARNATION 25 

tence as a baby ? Certainly not. Do you remember 
what you did on the afternoon of the 24th of March, 
1887 ? Certainly, you do not. Would you say 
that you did not exist on that day because you 
do not recall it ? That cannot be. Our memories are 
very poor and imperfect. If we can recall to our 
minds all the thoughts, ideas we had in our in- 
fancy and all the dreams which we dreamed at that 
time, then it will be quite easy to remember cor- 
rectly what we were before. There are instances of 
Yogis who do recollect their past lives and can tell 
those of others too, and they can be verified in many 
ways. The Yogis know how to develop memory 
and how to read past lives. They say, time and 
space exist in relation to our present mental con- 
dition ; if we can rise above this plane, our higher 
mind sees the past and future just as we see things 
before our eyes. Buddha remembered many of his 
past births. Those who wish to satisfy the idle curi- 
osity of their mind may spend their energy by 
trying to recollect their past lives. But I think it 
would be much more helpful to us if we devote our 
time and energy in moulding our future and in try- 
ing to be better than we are now, because the 
recollection of our former condition would only force 
us to make a bad use of the present. How unhappy 
he must be who knows that the wicked deeds of his 
past life would surely react on him and would bring 
distress, misery, unhappiness or suffering within a 
few days or few months. Such a man would be so 



26 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

restless and unhappy that he would not be able to do 
any work properly ; he would constantly think in 
what form misery would appear to him and so forth. 
He would not be able to eat or sleep even. He 
would be most miserable. Therefore we ought to 
think that it is a great blessing that we do not recollect 
our past lives, and past deeds. Vedanta says, do not 
waste your valuable time in thinking of your past 
lives, do not look backward during the tiresome 
journey through the different stages of evolution, 
always look forward and try first to attain to the 
highest point of spiritual development ; then if you 
want to know your past lives you will recollect them 
all. Nothing will remain unknown to you, the 
Knower of the universe. When the all-knowing 
Divine mind will manifest through you, time and 
space will vanish and past and future will be changed 
into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri 
Krisna said to Arjuna, in the "Bhagavad Gita:" — 

"Both you and I have passed through many 
lives; you do not recollect any, but I know them 
all." (Ch. iv., 5.) 



EVOLUTION AND REINCARNATION 
II. 

The amazing achievements of modern science 
have been opening every day new gates of wisdom 
and slowly bringing human minds nearer and nearer 
to the ultimate reality of the universe. The fire of 
knowledge kindled by science has already burnt 
down many dogmas and beliefs held sacred by the 
superstition of the past, which stood in the way of 
truth-seeking minds. In the first place science has 
disproved the theory of the creation of the universe 
out of nothing by the action of some supernatural 
power. It has shown that the universe did not 
appear in its present form or come into existence 
all of a sudden only a few thousand years ago, but 
that it has taken ages to pass through different 
stages before it could reach its present condition. 
Each of these stages was directly related to a pre- 
vious stage by the law of causation, which always 
operates in accordance with definite rules. The 
phenomena of the universe, according to science, 
are subject to evolution, or gradual change and 
progressive development from a relatively uniform 
condition to a relative complexity. From the 
greatest solar system down to the smallest blade 
of grass, everything in the universe has taken 



28 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

its present shape and form through this cosmic 
process of evolution. Our planet earth has gradually 
evolved, perhaps out of a nebulous mass which existed 
at first in a gaseous state. The sun, moon, stars, 
satellites and other planets have come into existence 
by going through innumerable changes produced by 
the evolutionary process of the Cosmos. Through 
the same process plants, insects, fishes, reptiles, 
birds, animals, man, and all living matter that in- 
habits this earth have evolved from minute germs of 
life into their present forms. The theory of Evolu- 
tion says that man did not come into existence all 
of a sudden, but is related to lower animals and to 
plants, either directly or indirectly. The germ of 
life had passed through various stages of physical 
form before it could appear as a man. That branch 
of science which is called Embryology has proved 
the fact that "man is the epitome of the whole cre- 
ation/' It tells that the human body before its birth 
passes through all the different stages of the animal 
kingdom — such as the polyp, fish, reptile, dog, ape, 
and at last, man. If we remember that nature is 
always consistent, that her laws are uniform and that 
whatever exists in the microcosm exists also in the 
macrocosm, and then study nature, we shall find 
that all the germs of life which exist in the universe 
are bound to pass through stages resembling the 
embryonic types before they can appear in the form 
of man. 

In explaining the theory of Evolution, science says 



E VOL UTION A ND REINCA RNA TION 29 

that there are two principal factors in the process of 
evolution; the first is the tendency to vary, which 
exists in all living forms whether vegetable or 
animal; the second is the tendency of environment 
to influence that variation, either favorably or 
unfavorably. Without the first, evolution of any 
kind would be absolutely impossible. But the cause 
of that innate tendency to vary is still unknown to 
science. Upon the second depends the law of 
natural selection. The variation must be adapted to 
favorable conditions of life ; consequently, either the 
germ of life will select suitable environments or 
vary itself in order to suit the surrounding conditions, 
if they are unfavorable. But the agent of this 
selective process is the struggle for existence which 
is a no less important factor. Thus Evolution 
depends on these three laws : Tendency to vary, or 
variation, natural selection, and struggle for exist- 
ence. Science tries to explain through these three 
laws the physical, mental, ' intellectual, moral and 
spiritual evolution of mankind. But the theory of 
Evolution will remain unintelligible until science can 
trace the cause of that innate " tendency to vary" 
which exists in every stage of all living forms. 

If we study closely we find that man's "self" 
consists of two natures, one animal and the other 
moral or spiritual. Animal nature includes all the 
animal propensities, desire for sense enjoyments, 
love of self, fear of death and struggle for existence. 
Each of these is to be found in lower animals as well 



3 o VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

as in human beings, the difference being only in 
degree and not in kind. In a savage tribe the 
expression of this animal nature is simple and natural 
while in a highly civilized nation it is expressed not 
in a simple and straightforward manner, but in an 
artistic and refined way. In a civilized community 
the same nature working through varied device, 
policy and plan, brings the same results in a more 
polished form. In the struggle for existence 
amongst lower animals and savage tribes, those who 
are physically strong survive and gain advantage 
over those who are physically weak; while in the 
civilized world the same result is obtained, not by 
displaying physical force but by art, diplomacy, 
policy, strategy and skill. Various kinds of 
defensive and offensive weapons have been invented 
to conquer those who are less skillful in using them, 
although they may be physically stronger. The 
simple expression of animal nature which we notice 
in savages and lower animals, by the natural process 
of evolution has gradually become more and more 
complex, as we find in the civilized nations of the 
world. The energy of the lower human nature is 
spent chiefly in the struggle for material existence. 
But there is another nature in man which is higher 
than this. It expresses itself in various ways, but 
on a higher plane. Love of truth, mastery over pas- 
sion, control of the senses, disinterested self-sacri- 
fice, mercy and kindness to all creatures, desire to 
help the distressed, forgiveness, faith in a Supreme 



EVOL UTION AND REINCARNA TION 31 

Being and devotion; all these are the expressions 
of that higher moral and spiritual nature. They 
cannot be explained as developed from animal 
nature by means of the struggle for material exist- 
ence. For these qualities are not to be found in 
lower animals, although the struggle for existence 
is there. The moral and spiritual nature of human 
beings cannot be traced as the outgrowth or gradual 
development of the animal nature. There is a dis- 
pute among the Evolutionists as to the method of 
explaining their cause. Some say that these higher 
faculties have evolved out of the lower ones and 
have developed by variation and natural selection; 
while others hold that some other higher influence, 
law or agency is required to account for them. 

Professor Huxley says: "As I have already urged, 
the practice of that which is ethically best — what we 
call goodness or virtue — involves a course of conduct, 
which in all respects, is opposed to that which leads 
to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In 
place of ruthless self-assertion, it demands self- 
restraint; in place of thrusting aside or treading 
down all competitors, it requires that the individual 
shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows ; 
its influence is directed not so much to the survival 
of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible 
to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of 
existence. It demands that each man who enters 
into the enjoyment of the advantages of a polity 
shall be mindful of his debt to those who have 



32 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that 
no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been 
permitted to live. Laws and moral precepts are 
directed to the end of curbing the cosmic process, 
and reminding the individual of his duty to the com- 
munity, to the protection and influence of which he 
owes, if not existence itself, at least the life of some- 
thing better than a brutal savage." (' Evolution and 
Ethics', pp. 81-82.) 

Prof. Calderwood says: " So far as human organ- 
ism is concerned, there seem no overwhelming 
obstacles to be encountered by an evolution theory, 
but it seems impossible under such a theory to 
account for the appearance of the thinking, self- 
regulating life distinctly human." Thus, according 
to some of the best thinkers, the explanation of the 
moral and spiritual nature of man as a development 
of the animal nature, is quite insufficient and unsatis- 
factory. The theory of natural selection in the 
struggle for existence cannot explain the cause of 
the higher nature of man. We cannot say that a 
theory is complete because it explains many facts. 
On the other hand, if it fails to explain a single 
fact, then it is proved to be incomplete. As such ? 
the theory that cannot explain satisfactorily the 
cause of the moral and spiritual nature of man can 
not be accepted as a complete theory. That explana- 
tion will be considered as complete which will 
explain most satisfactorily all the various manifesta- 
tion of the animal, moral and spiritual nature. 



E VOL UTION A ND REINCA RNA T10N 33 

Moreover, supposing the "tendency to vary " has 
evolved into the moral and spiritual nature of man, 
science does not explain the cause of that tendency 
to vary, nor how animal nature can be transformed 
into moral and spiritual nature. Is that " tendency 
to vary " indefinite, or is it limited by any definite 
law ? Science does not say anything about it. 

The explanation of the theologians, that the 
spiritual nature has been superadded to the animal 
nature by some extra-cosmic spiritual agency is not 
scientific, nor does it appeal to our reason. 

Now let us see what Vedanta has to say on this 
point. Vedanta accepts evolution and admits the 
laws of variation and natural selection, but goes 
a step beyond modern science by explaining the 
cause of that " tendency to vary." It says, " there 
is nothing in the end which was not also in the 
beginning." It is a law which governs the process 
of evolution as well as the law of causation. If we 
admit this grand truth of nature, then it will not be 
difficult to explain by the theory of evolution the 
gradual manifestation of the higher nature of man. 
The tendency of scientific monism is towards that end. 

Some of the modern scientists who hold the mon- 
istic position have found out the same truth which 
was discovered long ago by the Vedantic philosophers 
in India. J. Arthur Thomson, an eminent English 
scientist of the present day, says, in " The Study of 
Animal Life," that "the world is one, not two-fold, 
the spiritual influx is the primal reality and there 



34 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

is nothing in the end which was not also in the 
beginning. " But the evolutionists do not accept 
this truth. Let us understand it clearly. It means 
that that which existed potentially at the time of the 
beginning of evolution has gradually manifested 
in the various stages and grades of evolution. If we 
admit that a unicellular germ of life or a bioplasm, 
after passing through various stages of evolution, 
has ultimately manifested in the form of a highly 
developed human being, then we shall have to admit 
the potentiality of all the manifested powers in that 
germ or bioplasm, because the law is "that which 
exists in the end existed also in the beginning." 
The animal nature, higher nature, mind, intellect, 
spirit, all these exist potentially in the germ of life. 
If we do not admit this law then the problem will 
arise : How can non-existence become existent ? 
How can something come out of nothing? How 
can that come into existence which did not exist 
before ? Each germ of life, according to Vedanta, 
possesses infinite potentialities and infinite possibili- 
ties. The powers that remain latent have the 
natural tendency to manifest perfectly and to become 
actual. In their attempt they vary according to 
the surrounding environments, selecting suitable con- 
ditions or remaining latent as long as circumstances 
do not favor them. Therefore variation, according 
to Vedanta, is caused by this attempt of the potential 
powers to become actual. When life and mind began 
to evolve, the possibilities of action and reaction 



E VOL UTION A ND REINCA RNA TION 3 5 

hitherto latent in the germ of life became real and all 
things became, in a sense, new. Nobody can imagine 
the amount of latent power which a minute germ of 
life possesses until it expresses in gross form on the 
physical plane. By seeing the seed of a Banyan tree, 
one who has never seen the tree cannot imagine 
what powers lie dormant in it. When a baby is born, 
we cannot tell whether he will be a great saint, or a 
wonderful artist, or a philosopher, or an idiot, or a 
villain of the worst type. Parents know nothing 
about his future. Along with his growth, certain 
latent powers gradually begin to manifest. Those 
which are the strongest and most powerful will 
overcome others and check their course for some 
time; but when the powers that remain subdued by 
stronger ones get favorable conditions they will 
appear in manifested forms. As, for instance, 
chemical forces may slumber in matter for a thou- 
sand years, but when the contact with the re-agents 
sets them free, they appear again and produce cer- 
tain results. For thousands of years galvanism 
slumbered in copper and zinc, which lay quietly 
beside silver. As soon as all three are brought 
together under the required conditions silver is 
consumed in flame. A dry seed of a plant may pre- 
serve the slumbering power of growth through two 
or three thousand years and then reappear under 
favorable conditions. Sir G. Wilkinson, the great 
archaeologist, found some grains of wheat in a her- 
metically sealed vase in a grave at Thebes, which 



36 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

must have lain there for three thousand years. When 
Mr. Pettigrew sowed them they grew into plants. 
Some vegetable roots found in the hands of an 
Egyptian mummy, which must have been at least 
two thousand years old, were planted in a flower-pot, 
and they grew and flourished. Thus, whenever the 
latent powers get favorable conditions, they manifest 
according to their nature, even after thousands of 
years. 

Similarly, there are many instances of slum- 
bering mental powers. After remaining dormant 
for a long period in our normal condition, they may, 
in certain abnormal states — such as madness, delir- 
ium, catalepsy, hypnotic sleep and so forth — flash 
out into luminous consciousness and throw into abso- 
lute oblivion the powers that are manifesting in the 
normal state. Talents for eloquence, music, paint- 
ing, and uncommon ingenuity in several mechanical 
arts, traces of which were never found in the ordinary 
normal condition, are often evolved in the state 
of madness. Somnambulists in deep sleep, have 
solved most difficult mathematical problems and per- 
formed various acts with results which have surprised 
them in their normal waking states. Thus we can un- 
derstand that each individual mind is the storehouse of 
many powers, various impressions and ideas, some of 
which manifest in our normal state, while others re- 
main latent. Our present condition of mind and 
body is nothing but the manifested form of certain 
dormant powers that exist in ourselves. If new 



E VOL UTION A ND RE1NCA RNA TION 3 7 

powers are roused up and begin to manifest the 
whole nature will be changed into a new form. The 
manifestation of latent powers is at the bottom of 
the evolution of one species into another. This idea 
has been expressed in a few words by Patanjali, the 
great Hindu evolutionist who lived long before the 
Christian era. * In the second aphorism of the fourth 
chapter (see ' Raja Yoga/ by Swami Vivekananda, 
p. 210) it is said, ' ' The Evolution into another species 
is caused by the in-filling of nature." The nature is 
filled not from without but from within. Nothing 
is superadded to the individual soul from outside. 
The germs are already there, but their development 
depends upon their coming in contact with the nec- 
essary conditions requisite for proper manifestation. 
We sometimes see a wicked man suddenly become 
saintlike. There are instances of murderers and 
robbers becoming saints. A religionist will explain 
the cause of their sudden change, by saying that the 
grace of the Almighty had fallen upon them and trans- 
formed their whole nature. But Vedanta says that the 

*The reader ought to know that the doctrine of Evolution was known 
in India long before the Christian era. About the 7th century, B. C, 
Kapila, the father of Hindu Evolutionists, explained this theory for the 
first time through logic and science. 

Sir Monier Monier Williams says : " Indeed if I may be allowed the 
anachronism, the Hindus were Spinozites more than 2,000 years before 
the existence of Spinoza ; and Darwinians many centuries before 
Darwin; and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of Evolu- 
tion had been accepted by the scientists of our time and before any word 
like Evolution existed in any language of the world." (P. 12, ' Hinduism 
and Brahminism.') Prof. Huxley says : " To say nothing of Indian 
Sages to whom Evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul of 
Tarsus was born." (P. 150, ' Science and Hebrew Tradition.') 



38 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

moral and spiritual powers that remained latent in 
them have been roused up, and the result is the 
sudden transformation. None can tell when or how 
the slumbering powers will wake up and begin to 
manifest. The germ of life, or the individual soul 
as it is ordinarily called, possesses infinite possibili- 
ties. Each germ of life is studying, as it were, the 
book of its own nature by unfolding one page after 
another. When it has gone through all the pages, 
or, in other words, all the stages of evolution, per- 
fect knowledge is acquired, and its course is finished. 
We have read our lower nature by turning each 
page, or, in other words, by passing through each 
stage of animal life from the minutest bioplasm up 
to the present stage of existence. Now we are 
studying the pages which deal with moral and spirit- 
ual laws. If any one wants to read any page over 
again he will do it. Just as in reading a book, if any- 
body feels particularly interested in any page or 
chapter he will read it over and over again and will 
not open a new page or a new chapter until he is 
perfectly satisfied with it. Similarly, in reading the 
book of life; if the individual soul likes any partic- 
ular stage, he will stay there until he is perfectly 
satisfied with it; after that he will go forward and 
study other pages. One may read very slowly, and 
another very fast; but whether we read slowly or 
rapidly each one of us is bound to read the whole 
book of nature and attain to perfection sooner or 
later. 



E VOL UTION AND REINCARNA TION 39 

According to Vedanta, the end and aim of Evolu- 
tion is the attainment of perfection. Physical 
evolution of animal life reached its perfection in 
human form. There cannot be any other form higher 
than human on this earth under present conditions. 
It is the perfection of animal form. From this we 
can infer that the tendency of the law of Evolution 
is to reach perfection. When it is attained to, the 
whole purpose is served. Do we see in nature any 
other higher form evolved out of the human body? 
No. Shall we not be justified if we say that the end 
of physical evolution is the attainment of the per- 
fection of animal form. Again as the purpose and 
method of natural laws are uniform throughout the 
universe, the end of intellectual, moral and spiritual 
evolution will be attained when intellectual, moral 
and spiritual perfection are acquired. Intellectual 
perfection means perfection of intellect ; and intellect 
is perfect when we understand the true nature of 
things and never mistake the unreal for the real, 
matter for spirit, non-eternal for eternal, or vice 
versa. Moral perfection consists in the destruction 
of selfishness ; and spiritual perfection is the mani- 
festation of the true nature of spirit which is 
immortal, free, divine and one with the Universal 
Spirit or God. Evolution attains to the highest fulfil- 
ment of its purpose when the spirit manifests per- 
fectly. The tendency of nature is to have perfect 
manifestation of all her powers. When certain 
powers predominate they manifest first while the 



4 o VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

others remain dormant. As we find in the process 
of evolution, when animal nature manifests perfectly 
the moral and spiritual nature remain latent. Again 
when moral and spiritual nature manifest fully, the 
animal is in abeyance. It is for this reason we do 
not find expressions of moral and spiritual nature in 
lower animals or in those human beings who live 
like them. Man is the only animal in whom such 
perfect expressions of moral and spiritual nature are 
possible. 

When the individual soul begins to study its 
spiritual nature, its lower or animal nature is gradu- 
ally eclipsed. As the higher nature becomes power- 
ful the lower nature dwindles into insignificance; 
its energy is transformed into that of the higher 
nature, and ultimately it disappears altogether and 
rises no more. Then the soul becomes free from the 
lower or animal nature. There are many stages in 
the higher nature, as well as in the lower. Each 
of these stages binds the individual soul so long as it 
stays there. As it rises on a higher plane the lower 
stages disappear and cease to bind. But the moment 
any individual, after passing through all the stages 
of the spiritual nature, reaches the ultimate point of 
perfection, he realizes his true nature which is 
immortal and divine. Then his true individuality 
manifests. For want of true knowledge, he 
identified himself with each stage successively and 
thought that his individuality was one with the 
powers which were manifested in each stage. Con- 



E VOL UTION AND REINCARNA TION 41 

sequently he thought by mistake that he was affected 
by the changes of each stage. But now he realizes 
that his real individuality always remained unaffected. 
He sees that his true individuality shines always in 
the same manner although the limiting adjuncts 
may vary. As the light of a lamp appears of 
different colors if it passes through glasses of 
different colors, so the light of the true individual 
appears as animal or human when it passes through 
the animal or human nature of the subtle body. The 
subtle body of an individual changes from animal 
nature through moral and spiritual into divine. As 
this gradual growth cannot be expected in one life 
we shall have to admit the doctrine of Reincarnation, 
which teaches gradual evolution of the germ of life 
or the individual soul through many lives and various 
forms. Otherwise the theory of Evolution will 
remain imperfect, incomplete and purposeless. The 
doctrine of Reincarnation differs from the accepted 
theory of Evolution in admitting a gradual but con- 
tinuous evolution of the subtle body through many 
gross forms. The gross body may appear or disap- 
pear, but the subtle body continues to exist even 
after the dissolution of the gross body and re-mani- 
fests in some other form. 

The doctrine of Reincarnation when properly 
understood will appear as a supplement to the theory 
of Evolution. Without this most important supple- 
ment the Evolution theory will never be complete and 
perfect. Evolution explains the process of life, 



42 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

while Reincarnation explains the purpose of life. 
Therefore, both must go hand in hand to make the 
explanation satisfactory in every respect. 

James Freeman Clarke says: "That man has come 
up to his present state of development by passing 
through lower forms, is the popular doctrine of 
science to-day. What is called Evolution teaches 
that we have reached our present state by a very 
long and gradual ascent from the lowest animal 
organizations. It is true that the Darwinian theory 
takes no notice of the evolution of the soul, but only 
of the body. But it appears to me that a combina- 
tion of the two views would remove many difficulties 
which still attach to the theory of natural selection 
and the survival of the fittest. If we are to believe 
in Evolution let us have the assistance of the soul 
itself in this development of new species. Thus 
science and philosophy will co-operate, nor will 
poetry hesitate to lend her aid." (P. 190, 'Ten 
Great Religions, ' II. ) Evolution of the body depends 
upon the evolution of the germ of life or the indi- 
vidual soul. When these two are combined the 
explanation becomes perfect. 

The theory of Reincarnation is a logical necessity 
for the completion of the theory of evolution. If we 
admit a continuous evolution of a unit of the germ of 
life through many gross manifestations then we un- 
consciously accept the teachings of the doctrine of 
Reincarnation. In passing through different forms 
and manifestations the unit of life does not lose its 



E VOL UTION AND REINCARNA T10N 43 

identity or individuality. As an atom does not lose 
its identity or individuality (if you allow me to 
suppose an atom has a kind of individuality) although 
it passes from the mineral, through the vegetable, into 
the animal, so the germ of life always preserves its 
identity or individuality although it passes through 
the different stages of evolution. 

Therefore it is said in c< Bhagavad Gita," as in our 
ordinary life the individual soul passes from a baby 
body to a young one and from a young to an old, 
and carries with it all the impressions, ideas and 
experience that it has gathered in its former stage 
of existence and reproduces them in proper time, so 
when a man dies the individual soul passes from an 
old body into a new one, and takes with it the subtle 
body wherein are stored up all that it experienced 
and gathered during its past incarnations. Knowing 
this, wise men are never afraid of death. They 
know that death is nothing but a mere change from 
one body into another. Therefore, if any one does 
not succeed in conquering the lower nature by the 
higher, he will try again in his next incarnation, 
after starting from the point which he reached in his 
past life. He will not begin again from the very 
beginning, but from the last stage at which he 
arrived. Thus we see that Reincarnation is the 
logical sequence of evolution. It completes and 
makes perfect that theory and explains the cause of 
the moral and spiritual nature of man. 



WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC— RESURRECTION OR 
REINCARNATION ? 
III. 

Historically, it is interesting to know where the 
idea of resurrection first arose and how it was 
adopted by other nations. If we read carefully the 
writings ascribed to Moses and other writers of the 
Old Testament we find that the ancient Israelites 
did not believe in the Christian heaven or hell, nor 
in reward or punishment after death. It is doubt- 
ful whether they had any clear conception of the ex- 
istence of soul after the dissolution of tfie human 
body. They had no definite idea of the hereafter. 
They did not believe in the resurrection either of 
the soul or body. Job longed for death thinking 
that this would end his mental agony. In Psalms 
we read "Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead? 
Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?" (Ps. lxxxviii, 
10.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee ; 
in the grave who shall give Thee thanks. " (Ps. vi, 
5.) Again (Ps. cxlvi, 4) it is said about princes and 
the son of man, — " His breath goeth forth, he return- 
eth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts 
perish." "The dead praise not the Lord, neither 
any that go down into silence." (Ps. cxv, 17.) 



46 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

Solomon speaks boldly: " All things come alike to 
all ; there is one event to the righteous and to the 
wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the 
unclean * * * as is the good, so is the sinner." (Eccl. 
ix, 2.) "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and 
drink thy wine with a merry heart. * * * Live joy- 
fully with thy wife * * * for there is no work, nor 
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, 
whither thou goest." (Eccl. ix, 7, 9, 10.) Again in 
verse 5 it is said, "The dead know not anything, 
neither have they anymore a reward, for the 
memory of them is forgotten." Solomon says, 
" For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth 
beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one 
dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one 
breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a 
beast." "All go into one place; all are of the dust 
and all turn to dust again. " * ' Who knoweth the spirit 
of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast 
that goeth downward to the earth?" (Eccl. iii, 19-21.) 
There are many such passages which show clearly 
that before the Babylonian captivity the Israelites had 
no belief in reward or punishment, neither in heaven 
nor hell nor in the resurrection of the soul. Some 
say that they had a belief in a sheol or pit where de- 
parted souls remained after death, but were never 
resurrected. But when the ancient Jews were con- 
quered by the Persians, 536, B. C, they came in con- 
tact with a nation which had developed a belief in one 
God, in a heaven and a hell, in the resurrection of the 



RESURRECTION OR RE1NCARNA TION 47 

dead, in reward and punishment after death, and in 
the last day of judgment. Under the dominion of 
Persia, whose rule began with the capture of Babylon 
and lasted from 536-333, B. C, the Jews were greatly 
influenced by the Persian religion. They gave up 
their idolatry, gradually developed social organiz- 
ation and had considerable liberty. About that time 
the Jews were divided into two classes, the Pharisees 
and Sadducees. Those who adopted the religious 
ideas of the Parsees were called Pharisees (according 
to some authorities the word Pharisee was the 
Hebrew form of Parsee), and those who followed 
strictly the Jewish ideas, ceremonies, rituals and be- 
liefs were called Sadducees. The former were 
sharply opposed to the latter in their doctrinal beliefs. 
They believed in angels and spirits, they expected 
the resurrection of the dead and believed in future 
reward and punishment and also in Divine pre-ordin- 
ation. The Sadducees did not step beyond the 
bounds of ancient Judaism. They were Orthodox 
and very conservative in their views. They denied 
the existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection 
of the dead, and reward and punishment after death. 
In Matt, xxii, 23, we read, "The same day came 
to him the Sadducees which say that there is no 
resurrection." The Sadducees were fewer in number 
than the Pharisees. Gradually the latter grew very 
powerful and after the death of Jesus their doctrines 
of the resurrection of the dead, and of reward and 
punishment after death, and the belief in angels and 



48 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

spirits, became the cardinal principles of the new 
Christian sect. 

Thus we see that the idea of resurrection first 
arose in Persia and afterwards took a prominent 
place in the writings of the New Testament, and 
since then it has been largely accepted by the Christ- 
ians of the Western countries. The Zoroastrians 
believed that the soul of the dead hovers about the 
body for three nights and does not depart for the 
other world until the dawn after the third night. 
Then the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to 
hell. There the wicked remain until the time of 
renovation of the universe, that is, the judgment 
day. After the renovation, when Ahriman or Satan 
is killed, the souls of the wicked will be purified and 
have everlasting progress.* The question was 
asked, "How shall they produce resurrection?" 
Ahura Mazda says: "The reply is this, that the 
preparation and production of the resurrection are 
an achievement connected with miracle, a sublimity, 
and afterwards also a wondrous appearance unto 
the creatures uninformed. The secrets and affairs 
of the persistent Creator are like every mystery and 
secret."f 

The Zoroastrians believed in the resurrection, not 
of the physical body, but of the soul, and that it was 
an act of miracle. Similarly miraculous was the 
resurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus Himself never 

* u Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, pp. 27, 34, 46. 
i u Sacred Books of the East," Vol. xvii, p. 80. 



RESURRECTION OR REINCARNA TION 49 

mentioned what kind of resurrection, whether of 
body or of soul that He meant and believed in, the 
interpretation of the writers of the Gospels shows 
that His disciples understood Him to mean bodily 
resurrection and the re-appearance of His physical 
form. The three days remained, just as the Zoro- 
astrians believed. The miraculous and wondrous 
appearance of Jesus before His disciples was preached 
most vigorously by Paul. In his Epistle to the 
Corinthians, Paul declares emphatically that the 
whole of the Christian religion depends upon the mi- 
raculous resurrection and re-appearance of Jesus. 
Although Paul said the spiritual body of the risen 
dead is not the same as flesh and blood body 
(1 Cor., xv.), still that important point is generally 
overlooked, and the result is the belief which we 
find amongst some of the Christian sects; that at the 
call of the angels, the body will rise from the grave 
and the mouldering dust of bones and flesh will be 
put together by the miraculous power of the 
Almighty God. Paul says, " But now is Christ risen 
from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that 
slept " (1 Cor., xv. 20). He preached that Christ was 
the firstborn from the dead, that those who believe in 
Christ would rise as He did and that those who would 
not believe in Him nor in His resurrection should 
not rise. 

We have already noticed that the Parsees believed 
in a miraculous resurrection ; that the same miracle 
became more definite in the case of Jesus; and that 



5o VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

the Christian faith was afterwards founded upon that 
miraculous event. Both the Parsees and the fol- 
lowers of Christ did not mean by resurrection any 
universal law, but a miracle done by certain super- 
natural powers. They did not give any scientific 
reasons for such a miracle. 

But modern science denies miracles. It teaches 
that this universe is guided, not by miracles as the 
old thinkers used to believe, but by definite' laws 
which are always consistent and universal. There 
cannot be any exception to those laws which are 
uniform throughout. If resurrection be one of those 
laws, then it must have existed before the birth of 
Jesus; as such, how could He be the first born from 
the dead, as described by Paul. Conversely, if Jesus 
was the first who rose from the dead, then resurrec- 
tion cannot be a universal law. Scientists would 
not believe in anything which is not based upon 
universal laws. Some of the agnostics and material- 
ists have gone so far as to say that Jesus did not die 
on the cross, but his animation was suspended when 
his body was taken down from the cross by Joseph 
of Arimathaea. When Joseph went to Pilate and 
craved the body of Jesus, Pilate marvelled if He were 
dead (Mark xv., 44), because it was only six hours 
after the crucifixion. Some of the modern physiolo- 
gists are of opinion that temperate and strong men 
might live for several days on the cross. These 
heretical agnostics and skeptical scientists say that 
the body of Jesus revived after a few hours in the 



RES URRECTION OR REINCA RNA TION 5 1 

cool, rock-cut tomb, that he walked out of the tomb, 
went to Galilee and appeared before his disciples.* 
Whatever the facts may be (nobody can now tell 
exactly what actually happened), it is clear that the 
scientists are not ready to take anything upon 
authority. They do not care to believe in anything 
because it is written in this book or that. They 
must have convincing proofs and rational explanation 
of every phenomenon of nature. They want to 
penetrate into miracles in order to discover the 
universal laws that govern them. If they do not 
find any such laws, they will surely reject every 
event that is supposed to be caused by miraculous or 
supernatural powers. 

The theory of a miraculous resurrection is attended 
with the belief that the individual soul does not exist 
before birth. The supporters of this theory hold 
that at the time of birth, the individual, being created 
out of nothing, comes fresh into existence. But 
science tells us that sudden creation out of nothing 
and a total destruction of anything are both impossi- 
ble. Matter and force are indestructible. Science 
teaches evolution and not creation, and denies the 
intervention of any supernatural being as the cause 
of phenomenal changes. The theory of Resurrec- 
tion ignores all these ultimate conclusions of modern 
science. On the contrary, the doctrine of Reincar- 
nation, after accepting all the truths and laws of 
nature that have been discovered by modern science, 

*Vide u Science and Christian Tradition," by Prof. Huxley, pp. 279-280. 



52 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

carries them to their proper logical conclusions. 
Reincarnation is based upon evolution. It means a 
continuous evolution of an individual germ of life, 
and a gradual re-manifestation of all the powers and 
forces that exist in it potentially. Moreover, the 
doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the law of 
cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not 
outside of the effect, but lies in the effect. The 
cause is the potential or unmanif ested state of the 
effect, and effect is the actual or manifested cause. 
There is one current of infinite force or power con- 
stantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the 
universe, and appearing in the innumerable forms of 
waves. We call one set of waves the cause of 
another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the 
potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of 
a previous potential cause. The underlying current 
is one and the same throughout. Reincarnation 
denies the idea that the soul has come into existence 
all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, 
but it holds that it has been existing from the begin- 
ningless past, and will exist all through eternity. 
The individual soul enjoys or suffers according to 
the acts it performs. All enjoyment and suffering 
are but the reactions of our actions. Actions are the 
causes and the reactions are the results. Our pres- 
ent life is the result of our past actions, and our 
future will be the result of the present. The actions 
which we are now doing will not be lost. Do you 
think that the thought-forces of one life-time will end 



RESURRECTION OR REINCARNA T10N 53 

suddenly after death? No. They will be conserved 
and remain potentially in the center and re-manifest 
under suitable conditions. Each human soul is noth- 
ing but a center of thought-force. This center is 
called in Sanskrit S&kshma Sarira or the subtle body of 
an individual. The subtle germ of life or, in other 
words, the invisible center of thought-forces, will 
manufacture a physical vehicle for expressing the 
latent powers that are ready for manifestation. This 
process will continue until the germ can express 
most perfectly all the powers that are coiled up in its 
invisible form. As the doctrine of Reincarnation is in 
agreement with all the physical laws, so it is based 
upon psychical, moral and ethical laws. As on the 
objective plane the law of action and reaction governs 
the objective phenomena, so on the subjective plane 
of consciousness, if the mental action or thought be 
good, the reaction will be good, and the reaction 
will be evil if the mental action be evil, because every 
action produces a similar reaction. A good reac- 
tion is one which makes us happy and brings pleas- 
ant sensations or peace of mind, while an evil re-- 
action brings suffering, unpleasant sensations, 
and makes one miserable. Thus Reincarnation 
makes us free agents for action, as well as for reaping 
the results or reactions of those actions. In fact, we 
mould our own nature, according to our desires, ten- 
dencies and works. 

The theory of Resurrection, as commonly under- 
stood, does not explain why one man is born with a 



54 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

sinful nature and another with a virtuous one. It con- 
tents itself with saying as Luther said: "Man is a 
beast of burden who only moves as his rider orders ; 
sometimes God rides him and sometimes Satan." 
But why God should allow Satan to ride His own 
creature nobody can tell. At any rate, man must 
suffer eternally for the crimes which he is forced by 
Satan to commit. Moreover this theory pre-supposes 
predestination and that the individual soul is fore- 
doomed to go either to heaven or to hell. St. 
Augustine first started this doctrine of Predestina- 
tion and Grace to explain why one is born sinful and 
another sinless. According to this theory, God, the 
merciful, favors somebody with His grace at the time 
of his birth and then he comes into this world ready 
to be saved, but the mass of humanity is born sinful 
and destined for eternal damnation. Very few 
indeed receive the gift of grace and are predestined 
to be saved. Moreover, this doctrine tells us that 
God creates man out of nothing, forbids him some- 
thing, but at the same time He does not give him 
the power to obey His commands. Ultimately God 
punishes him with eternal torture on account of his 
weakness. The body and soul will not be separated. 
He will not be set free from his body, because, if it 
be so, there will be the end of his suffering, which 
God does not like. All these sufferings and punish- 
ments are predestined before his birth. Thus, St. 
Augustine's dogma of Predestination and Grace 
instead of explaining the difficulty satisfactorily 



RESURRECTION OR REINCARNATION 55 

brings horror and dread to human minds, while the 
doctrine of Reincarnation teaches gradual progress 
from lower to higher, through ages until the 
individual reaches perfection. It holds that each 
individual will become perfect like Jesus or Buddha 
or like the Father in heaven and manifest divinity 
either in this life or in some other. One span of life 
is too short for developing one's powers into perfec- 
tion. If you should try to train an idiot to become 
a great artist or a philosopher, would you ever 
succeed in your attempt to make him so during his 
lifetime? No. And will you punish him because 
he cannot become so? Can a man who possesses the 
slightest common sense be so unreasonable? Simi- 
larly what would you think if God punishes a man 
because he can not become perfect within a life 
time ? It is a poor argument to say that God has 
given us free-will to choose right and wrong, and we 
are responsible for our choice ; if we choose wrongly 
we must be punished. The advocates of such an 
argument forget that at the same time God has let 
loose His powerful Satan to corrupt His creatures. 
It reminds me of an old story. Once on a time 
at a certain place a prisoner was released and set 
free through the kindness of a tyrant. The tyrant 
said to the prisoner "Look here, wicked man, I give 
you freedom, you can go to any place ; but there is one 
condition; if you are attacked by any wild animal 
you will be put to the dungeon and there will be no 
end to your torture." So saying he gave him 

LtfC. 



56 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

freedom, but at the same time ordered his servants 
to let loose a hungry wolf to chase the man. You 
can imagine what became of the prisoner. Can we 
call this an act of mercy ! 

The doctrine of Reincarnation says that each 
individual soul is potentially perfect and is gradually 
unfolding its powers and making them actual through 
the process of Evolution. At every step of that 
process it is gaining different experiences which 
last only for a time. Therefore neither God nor 
Satan is responsible for our good or evil actions. 
Good and evil are like the up and down or the crest 
and hollow of a wave in the sea. A wave cannot 
rise without making a hollow somewhere in the sea. 
So in the infinite ocean of reality innumerable waves 
are constantly rising. The summit of each wave is 
called good, while the hollow beside it is evil or misery 
and the current of each individual life is constantly 
flowing towards the ultimate destination which we 
call perfection. Who can tell how long it will take 
to reach that goal? If anybody can attain to perfec- 
tion in this life, he is no longer bound to reincarnate. 
If he fails he will continue to progress by taking 
some other body. Reincarnation does not teach, as 
many people think, that in the next incarnation one 
will begin from the very beginning, but it says that 
one will start from that point where one arrives 
before death and will keep the thread of progress 
unbroken. It does not teach that we go back to 
animal bodies after death, but that we get our 



RESURREC T10N OR REINCA RNA TION 5 7 

bodies according to our desires, tendencies and 
powers. If any person has no desire to come back 
to this world or to any other and does not want 
to enjoy any particular object of pleasure, and if he 
is perfectly free from selfishness that person will not 
have to come back. The theory of Reincarnation is 
logical and satisfactory. While the theory of 
Resurrection is neither based on scientific truths nor 
can it logically explain the cause of life and death ; 
Reincarnation solves all the problems of life and 
explains scientifically all the questions and doubts 
that arise in the human mind. 

11 Reincarnation is not easily understood by a 
thoughtless child deluded by the delusion of wealth, 
name or fame. Everything ends with death, he 
thinks, and thus falls again and again under ,the sway 
of death." 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 

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World's Fair Addresses — Delivered before the 
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60 VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 

RAJA YOGA 

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VEDA NT A PHILOSOPHY 61 

This literature is commended to all students of 
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